Luke O'Sullivan is an American sculptor. His work combines realistic painting techniques with sculpture to create extraordinary urban scenes. He also creates architectural sculptures inspired by the themes of anti-utopian fiction. His early pieces are more game-like, a gorgeous cityscape. Later works use the urban underground to reflect the realities of the working class in the process of urbanisation. His recent work, 'Industry/Entropy', shows the bustling urban architecture and the painful stories behind the bustle (beneath the city). Although no human is present throughout the artwork, viewers can feel the silence of the big cities and the helplessness behind his creation. Some buildings are leaning, some are falling apart, and some are making old. The detailed portrayal of these demonstrates the storytelling of this work. He allows the viewer to spend more time looking at what is happening in the city. 

 

In the use of materials

He has used screen printing on wood. The cutting of the wood better expresses the complexity and three-dimensionality of the city. Wood boards gave me more ideas for using materials in my work. I wanted to use the wood panels to provide the portrait with an urban feel, to express the psychological activities of people living in the city and the struggle against urbanisation. It has to be said that urbanisation has brought better living standards and conditions, but it has also brought stress and depression. The work 'black' is based on his other pieces and adds some other materials. I can feel the pain and helplessness of the labouring people underneath the city. Behind all the prosperity, many people from the lower classes struggle for it. I got a lot of inspiration from this kind of material using. In my work 'abandoned', I use rusted iron and wood pieces abandoned in the city to reflect urban life's oppressive and unheard feeling. I will continue to use the laser cut of wooden panels in my subsequent artworks. Moreover, the combination of wood panels and funding materials may greatly help me in my future artistic work.

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Reference:

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About (2018) Luke O'Sullivan. Available at: http://www.lukeosullivan.com/aboutd (Accessed: November 15, 2022).  

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O’Sullivan, L. (2010) “Black.”  Available at: http://www.lukeosullivan.com/blue-black-and-red (Accessed: November 15, 2022).  

 

O’Sullivan, L. (2015) “Industry/Entropy .”  Available at: http://www.lukeosullivan.com/industryentropy (Accessed: November 15, 2022).  

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